This stage of the repainting of the directors' apartment is now officially finished. The rooms look great, frankly (and that's no thanks to me; I just cooked, Janice catalogued, and as the painters progressed, we joined Neal and Janie in cheering them ever onward and sometimes upward). There is exterior painting to be done by Crew No. 2 in a few weeks, and hopefully some serious gardening (we're not talking about delicate pruning, but something more along the line of what a Paul Bunyan might do with his legendary axe).
But back to the repainting. This was a somewhat complicated project. First, Janie had to empty the entire second floor of extraneous materials and collect things the crew would be needing. After all the repainting was finished, Janie then did the major cleanup, finding ways to store the tarps, ladders, brushes, rollers, etc., since we did not know where they should go. The photos look good, thanks to her efforts (putting off the grading of assignments, etc.)
So, how about some before-and-after shots? Let's start with the dining room, which featured blue (yes, blue) wallpaper. At least that was the colour of the outer layer, with two more layers to be removed. The grandchildren had already done the fun part, dramatically pulling off whatever would come relatively easily.
Now the room is white and wonderfully bright, facing south. Once the floors are sanded this fall, this room will surely remain my favourite. I have many happy memories of being at Janie's dining room with friends, missionaries stopping on their way from Africa to North America, new workers, Ann-Cathy, Yves, Steve, etc.
Next, the living room. These walls were in relatively good shape. We faced a few challenges removing and reestablishing that big beautifully framed (and very heavy) old mirror, but it is now safely ensconced in its rightful place for another few decades.
The dreaded Burgundy accents are now gone (yea!) and the shelves are white. Repainting the radiators was a time-consuming project since spray painting was out of the question, but three coats can do wonders. Now the fireplace--the only one not removed by an earlier well-meaning resident--gives a nice accent to this south-facing room.
The kitchen has been essentially gutted of earlier furnishings, at its walls are now bare. Of course in earlier decades, this was the bathroom. Then more kitchens were needed, so it became--voila--a kitchen.
The kitchen space is now ready for the architect to create useful working and storage areas for this small room.
Next is what I think of as the Master Bedroom, though it has had many uses over the past century. Another blue room which required multiple coats of paint.
Facing north, the white walls will certainly bring more light into this room.
Next we move to what I think of as either a guest room or Marc's room. This was the team's tool-and-supplies room for this part of the project. The walls were in good shape but needed paint even so.
Remember the bathroom off the Master Bedroom and also available from the hallway? Constructed out of two closets, this room is narrow. I've seen wider church aisles. Come to think of it, I've seen wider people squeeze down airplane aisles, prompting me to pray quietly, "Please go past my row . . . please!"
Yves added a shower (shower curtain and bar to follow), which modernize the room.
OK, so you can't really see it . . . but Yves also added a new cabinet and light over the 'hotel' sink (sinks which are about half as deep as we would expect, the kind of sink one used to find in less expensive French hotels in the good ol' days).
The hallway, from which you could reach any of the apartment's rooms, used to be dark, the sort of place one merely passed through to get somewhere else.
With the newly painted walls and ceiling (Bonnie painted the wallpaper three times and the woodwork twice), this could now be an art gallery. What a change!
Whom do we thank for all of these transformations? Notre équipe extraordinaire, of course: none other than Bonnie,Yves, and Tom. It is amazing what they managed to get done in but two weeks.
And much of that success was due to Yves, who worked tirelessly (in spite of a pretty bad kink in his neck). Yves organized everything, laid out the order in which the work was undertaken, got Neal to buy the right materials, and ended his 11th year of volunteer work at CMP with a truly grand flourish. And every evening, revived by a good shower and dinner, he regaled us with stories which moved most easily between English and French (with Janie or Neal suddenly jumping in and coming to the rescue with their skills as professional translators). Yves believes in this Centre and its work. He has been an enormous help to the CMP and Neal and Janie.
Getting the CMP ready for the next director couple is a worthy project, one which will hopefully enable them to devote time to their real work rather than to redecorating and renovating. We and the people supporting the CMP feel good: the Bloughs are now moved into their beautifully renovated new apartment in Creteil, one which will be very good for their retirement years; and the CMP is nearly ready for Kreibels arrival. The transition is looking good.
We send our very best wishes to the next volunteer team. The gardener especially will be facing a challenge.
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